Latest Drosophila melanogaster Stories

â€œAlthough e-noses already have many uses â€“ such as detecting spoilage in the food industry and monitoring air quality â€“ they are not as discriminating as biological noses,â€ according to CSIRO scientist, Dr Stephen Trowell.

Biologists analyzing DNA in search of the molecular underpinnings of life have consistently favored species with small genomes, which are cheaper to sequence and lack the repetitive "junk" that clutters bigger genomes.

In a novel study appearing this week in Neuron, Brandeis researchers identify for the first time a specific set of wake-promoting neurons in fruit flies that are analogous to cells in the much more complex sleep circuit in humans.